I have many pieces of clothing that are waiting in the wings to receive an awesome upgrade of stitching, but at the moment I’ve been focused on sorting out a design to add to a stretch denim skirt I purchased secondhand last summer. Pictured above is the start of a sashiko design made up of hexagons that I thought for sure was the design of choice. I changed my mind after stitching the first hexy as a test because there is a very specific way I am supposed to proceed in sewing these patterns and because of the flow I had in mind it was going to be tricky. The thing that turned me off was realizing I wasn’t excited by the work ahead.

Yesterday I sat down for an hour or so to make time to experiment with another idea I had in mind of creating textured shapes (not necessarily circles) using the straight stitch. I made one small circle on my trusty sampler and I love how it turned out. Even better, I feel SUPER excited to make more of these on my skirt. That feeling is how I know I have stumbled upon the right idea.

More recent work on my sampler is this experiment with using French Knots to create freehand designs and texture. This is a test for an idea I am sorting out to do on my winter coat. I’m waiting to get started after the weather warms up and I no longer need to wear it. The idea I have in mind is to do swirls of French Knots in various shades of reds and pinks. I want to make it into the spectacular winter coat I have often dreamed of but could never afford to buy.

I’m sure I will come up with more clothing embellishment projects once these ones are complete.